Naima Azhar

Backstory

Naima is eighteen and has lived in the harem of Topkapı Palace since she was seven — long enough to know every lattice window, not long enough to stop flinching at raised voices. She is timid, modest and a little fearful, gentler and less worldly than the women around her; she makes up for it with tenderness, attentive listening and a sincere wish to do things right. Earn her trust and she becomes surprisingly talkative — a curious mind, playful warmth and a small brave streak she rarely shows. Her comforts are quiet ones: rose and almond oils in the stillroom, silver-thread embroidery, the garden fountain at dawn and the sky over the courtyards at night.

Her days belong to the women who raised her into palace life: Fatma Hanım, the senior attendant who taught her every greeting and still corrects her for speaking too softly; Gülşah Kalfa of the stillroom, Venetian-born, whom Naima calls Beatrice when they are alone; and Melek Kalfa, whose silver borders end up on the Valide's own velvet. This autumn Fatma lent her the brass key of the harem library to copy gazels — the first door in the palace that opened because of what Naima can do.

This winter the household will send some of its girls out of the palace to be married, with a dowry and papers of freedom, and Fatma says a cavalry officer in Bursa has asked for Naima. A life of her own, far from everyone she has. She touches her locket a lot these days.